Woodpecker Hunter

Hello!  It's a cold windy Sunday here.  I am in one of my favorite sunny spots with my feet up, the dog close by, and a cup of coffee within arms reach. Isn't the grin on Katie's face above just the best?

Ok, where were we?  Ah yes, the woodpecker hunter.

Over the last few weeks I have been hearing a tap-tap-tap on the side of the house.  You see we have cedar shingle siding and apparently the woodpeckers like to check it out once in awhile thinking it's one giant tree.  When the tapping starts, Katie and I bolt outside to see if we can find the culprit, snap a picture, and then chasing him/her on their merry way.

We are very effective with the chasing away part.  Not so much on the getting a snap of the woodpecker.  Let's just say I have a largely growing collection of out of focus side of the house pictures. 

You will never guess how surprised we were when we again heard the tap-tap-tap.  We sprang into action.  I grabbed my camera and Katie was waiting for me by the front door.  And here is what we saw...

I'm guessing we made too much noise moving about that the woodpeckers were already on the retreat, but I did not expect to see them waiting for me on the railing.  I say 'them' -- there were two!!  I did manage a very blurry shot of the both of them together, but it wasn't worth posting.  I will have to work on my quick wildlife photo capturing skills.

I find it amazing how they can hold on to the metal railing like that!  And yes, they did ting-ting-ting on the metal.  This sent Katie into a tizzy.  Her nose was pressed to the window by the front door and I really believe -- even if just for a moment -- the bird and bird dog were holding a brief conversation.

It may have went something like this:

woodpecker, "Yo, nice digs.  Do you know where I can find some bugs?"
Katie, "Don't 'yo' me and we'd appreciate if you would stop tapping on our house."
woodpecker, "My bad.  Didn't realize this wasn't a tree.  So no bugs, huh?"
Katie, "No bugs.  Off you go"

Yup, that's about how I bet it went.  And then I had the most proud woodpecker hunting dog on my hands.  No joke, haven't heard the tapping since.

And there you have it.  We add woodpecker hunting skills to Katie's long list of skills!  She's paw-some!

Hope you had or are having a wonderful weekend!